It’s that time again – the “OMG ten days to Christmas and I haven’t done anything” time, and also the season for holiday story fun. This year, for the first time, I don’t have a specific holiday story coming out. My last two releases, Fair Isn’t Life, and Love and Lint Rollers, both end in the holiday season, but right before Christmas. I’m going to pretend that counts.

I was writing one— started in late October as usual, because I admire, but can’t match, the folk writing Christmas in July. But it’s now 67,000 words, moving the guys on into January, and the plot isn’t done. So it’s a novel, not a holiday novella. Oops.

I do love holiday stories, both the sweetly traditional and the ones that march to a different little drummer boy. We need more that aren’t just Christmas. I’m sorry that Astrid Amara’s Hanukkah stories like Carol of the Bellskis seem to be unavailable right now. I hope she’s planning to rerelease them. There are several holidays in this time of year celebrated by various religions, and groups, that could use stories. I’d like more M/M Wiccan/pagan Solstice books, for instance.

But as someone who grew up with Christmas, I do appreciate the traditions of my childhood, as shared by gay men, with happy endings. In a season when religion gains a bigger than usual foothold in the lives of many families, particularly a religion that isn’t always accepting or affirming, there’s a comfort in stories that give LGBTQ people a fair, full, and warm share of the joy of the season. This year, I’ve indulged in a few favorite rereads (like Amy Lane’s Christmas Kitsch and Eli Easton’s A Prairie Dog’s Love Song) but have read almost none of the new stuff (due to trying to finish that novella-turned-novel, until I accepted with a relieved sigh that it wasn’t happening this month, plus proofreading the audio for my Rebuilding Year books.) I’m looking forward to finding new gems. Please do comment with your new-release holiday favorites.

I want to mention a site I link for my YA group every year. “Your Holiday Mom” ( http://yourholidaymom.com/ ) is an online space where supportive moms gather to post a holiday message to all LGBTQ children, teens and adults who are without family support and who would like a “stand-in” holiday family. They know that not every mom is ready to accept their own LGBTQ child exactly as-is (as hard as this is for the letter-writing moms to imagine), so they’ve written to extend their love beyond their own family. There are also a few Dad letters, and Siblings, and Friends. New ones every day, through the holiday season. If it would help to remember that there are even more families out there than can be accommodated by the site, who love and support and encourage their LGBTQ members and friends in this season, check out the letters.

So, as I start finally looking for gifts, and indulge myself in a few new reads, I want to wish you all a happy holiday season, and joy in whatever traditions you celebrate (or fun in avoiding the ones you dislike.) May the coming New Year 2019 be a good one, may we all find both fiction and life being kind to those who need it, and may all the tribbles be little, fuzzy ones. ((Hugs)) to all my online friends.

-Kaje

December 2018